


Oath

by Severina



Series: Alphabet Soup [15]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Community: 1_million_words, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 10:49:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4873924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His voice is a whisper in the trees after a storm, ragged and torn. He is broken in more ways than one, and much as she knows that he played a part in the tragedy that their lives have become, ultimately it is her fault that he is now alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oath

**Author's Note:**

> Post Season Four. Written for prompt "O" at LJ's 1_million_words A to Z Challenge.
> 
> * * *

Belle can't see the road for her tears.

Behind her, she can still hear Rumple shuffling on the pavement, unable to rise. Still hear him murmuring her name. His voice is a whisper in the trees after a storm, ragged and torn. He is broken in more ways than one, and much as she knows that he played a part in the tragedy that their lives have become, ultimately it is her fault that he is now alone. Hurt. Banished.

She forces herself to continue walking, one lurching step after another. She grips the dagger painfully in her right hand, feels it dragging in the folds of her skirt. It whispers, too. Tells her of the power it holds, of the way to make this right. Belle shakes her head, but resists the urge to toss the cursed thing into the woods to stop the dark and crooning temptation. She must be strong.

She knows there is pavement beneath her modern heels, but feels only the flagstones of her father's castle beneath slippered feet. She knows she is alone, but the phantom press of Rumplestiltskin's arm encircles her waist as he leads her from the war room. She hears again her promise, and doesn't feel the tears that stain her cheeks.

Another step, and it is grass underneath heels that would make her totter were it not for her grip on her father's arm. Rumple stands handsome and proud beside the wishing well. Archie beams at her, and she can barely manage to utter the words of their vows past the swell of happiness that threatens to burst her from the inside out.

Belle stumbles then, rough pavement and reality replacing soft grass and her husband's smiling face. She blinks at the white line bisecting the road, clenches her hand at the hilt of the dagger. It's power thrums up her arm, sets her nerve endings jangling. The call of it drowns out the hoot of an owl in a nearby tree and the chirping of the crickets in the underbrush, but not the sound of her husband's voice. Cracked and beaten. Calling her name. 

She straightens her shoulders, takes another step. Feels Rumple's arm around her back when she fell from the ladder. Sees him hold out his arms to her when she rushes from the elevator at the library, and feels always safe in his embrace. Smells the earthy scent of fresh straw as she leans over him to watch him spin at his wheel. Draws her finger along the cracked rim of the chipped cup that he always favoured. Feels the soft, warm press of his lips against hers the first time they kissed, and the second, and the last.

She promised him forever. 

She lied.


End file.
